Birds Don't Just Fly (We Fall Down and Get Back Up)
by Akiros
Summary: Sequel to I'll Just Start Again. After Hinata graduates from Teiko, he goes to Karasuno thinking that he'll never see the Generation of Miracles ever again. He's proven wrong very quickly.
1. Purple

_(A/N: Sorry this took so long to get out; I really didn't/don't like this chapter, so I spent forever editing it until it sounds marginally better to me now. I'll be posting a bunch of chapters at once to make up for their collective horribleness.)_

 _This somehow turned into a Q &A session. I swear I didn't mean for that to happen. Murasakibara calls Hinata "Shou-chin" because Hinata is nice to him 'cause Murasakibara is sorta like a spoiled little brother (and also because I thought "Hi-chin" sounded too weird).)_

* * *

"Another lap around the gym as a cool-down, then that's it for the day," Daichi announces before joining his team in running. Just ahead of him, Hinata and Kageyama get into another one of their arguments, apparently deciding on a race to settle their differences. Used to this, Daichi just sighs. _This is supposed to help calm you down, not get you fired up…_

Just as he rounds the last corner of the gym, joined not long ago by Suga, he spots a mass of purple just outside the door, slowing down in order to identify it. "That's, uh, hair, right?" Despite the risk of looking rude, Daichi points it out to Suga, grabbing the grey-haired teen to get his attention.

Suga nods. Daichi isn't sure whether he's even more confused than before or relieved it isn't something even stranger. "And it's attached to the head of a rather large man."

At this point, said large man decides to speak up, having stuck his head in and looked around lethargically. "Ah, Shou-chin." Surprisingly, Hinata actually disengages from arguing/racing Kageyama to greet their visitor.

"Murasakibara," he says slowly ( _warily_ , Daichi hesitantly adds mentally, because that expression is so utterly foreign on his teammate's face), walking up to the giant. Daichi starts at the name, because isn't that one of the Generation of Miracles? He might be a volleyball player, but he would be surprised if there was anyone their age who was into sports but didn't know about the ones who managed to take the country in a whirlwind of astounding victories. "Why don't you come in?"

Although it's not obvious, Daichi can read the reluctance seeping into the limbs of his smallest teammate and instantly feels on guard. After all, there's not much out there that can dampen Hinata's enthusiasm. His attention is captured by Murasakibara, however, as he begins to step inside the gym. _Whoa._

"Oh, wow, he's taller than Ushijima," he hears Suga murmur from his side. Daichi would reply, but he's a little too busy staring at someone who must be a least a foot taller than he is. After Murasakibara manages to get his huge frame through the doorway, Daichi realizes he's been accompanied by a much more normal sized teen whose black hair covers his left eye.

This other teen bows for the both of them. "Sorry for the intrusion," he apologizes. "This is Murasakibara Atsushi," he says, gesturing to his companion, "and I'm Himuro Tatsuya."

Crossing to the other side of the gym, Daichi sticks his hand out for a handshake. "Sawamura Daichi, captain of the Karasuno volleyball team. What brings you here?"

The black-haired teen shakes the proffered hand with a strained smile. "Atsushi insisted on coming to a snack sale here and decided to drop by here when we began heading back." Sure enough, the plastic bag dangling from Murasakibara's hand is stuffed full of what seems to be every kind of snack imaginable.

"That's… a bit far for some snacks, isn't it?"

"Nowhere is too far for Murasakibara when it comes to sweets!" Hinata pipes up, having finished greeting his friend. He's glad that Hinata seems back to normal, if not a little stiff.

"Eh, who is this?" Daichi resists the urge to pinch his nose as Tanaka and Nishinoya return to the gym, evidently having finished changing. He reflexively says, "Don't make that face, Tanaka," even though he hasn't seen his friend's expression yet.

"This is Murasakibara. I knew him from Teiko," Hinata announces innocently and now Daichi knows that they're going to be there _forever_ because the team members will never be done questioning Hinata about his middle school choices (nevermind this bizarre friendship).

"This idiot went to Teiko?" Even Tsukishima has something to say, apparently.

"Oi, dumbass, if you went to Teiko, how come I didn't see you at any of their matches?" Kageyama brings up a good point, and even Daichi's a little curious now. It's true that he did know that Hinata went to Teiko for middle school, since it was on his club application, but he's never considered why he's never seen Hinata mentioned in any volleyball articles on Teiko, especially considering the school's fame.

"Oh, that's because I played basketball during middle school." Murasakibara has started to get distracted by his multitude of snacks, but an elbow to the stomach by Hinata has him nodding his head for corroboration. _Wait, does that mean he just started playing volleyball_ this year _?_

"Why are you with the volleyball right now then, Hinata-san?" Himuro asked, confused.

"Oh, I played volleyball during elementary school," Hinata replies brightly. "I also practiced over the summer." _That's a relief, at least._

"That's nice, Hinata-san, though that wasn't really what I meant," says Himuro in the patient way that spoke of experience. "Whatever made you stop playing basketball?"

The gym is so quiet, Daichi's almost sure that he could hear a pin drop on the other side of the court.

"Oh." He doesn't miss how Kageyama shifts ever so slightly closer with the utterance of that single despondent syllable. "You're… not from Japan are you, Himuro-san." It's not a question, but Himuro responds as if it were.

"No, I moved from America this year," the black-haired teen confirms with a clearly confused tone, his brow furrowed.

Hinata nods, almost to himself. "If you continue with Yosen, I'm sure you'll find out later," he continues cryptically. A smile creeps onto his face and Daichi resists the urge to stare (or shiver) at the unfamiliar edge to Hinata's expression. "After all, I'm sure Tetsu will soon teach you all a lesson." This bit is directed at Murasakibara.

His head hurts from following this exchange and the two newcomers haven't even been there for fifteen minutes yet.

"And I'll crush him," Murasakibara states matter-of-factly, voice slightly muffled by his mouthful of food. Judging by the almost… fond huff and absentminded pat that Hinata gives Murasakibara, this isn't a particularly abnormal exchange, and suddenly Daichi's filled with pity for whoever the captain of the Generation of Miracles was.

(In a school somewhere, Nijimura sneezes.)

Eyeing this exchange, Himuro asks, "Were you a part of the Generation of Miracles, then? You seem to know Murasakibara especially well." He's tempted to cut off this impromptu Q and A session, but Hinata interrupts him by once again elbowing Murasakibara in the side and asking him instead.

"Was I part of the Generation of Miracles?"

Barely stirred from his apparently very engrossing box of pocky, Murasakibara pats Hinata on the head (which is alarmingly similar to watching a flyswatter head for an oblivious bug). "You were part of the Generation of Miracles as much as Kuro-chin was." (Shou-chin sends him a glare for his efforts, but Murasakibara knows that it's because he doesn't like being reminded of his height, not because he thinks he's being condescending, like Kuro-chin does.)

When Himuro looks at Hinata again, Daichi can almost see the newfound respect that sparks in his dark eyes, and he wishes that it didn't come on the heels of a rather emotionally taxing experience. "I would love to have a match with you at some point," he says with a smile. "And I'm sure Atsushi would like to have one with you as well."

Hinata grins weakly. Daichi zeroes in on the expression because it's so out of character for the exuberant orange-haired boy and regrets that he's let these out-of-character moments happen so many times today. "Maybe some day in the future," he offers on behalf of his teammate, grinning to dispel some of the tension that has gathered. "Wouldn't want one of my players tired from a basketball game before a volleyball tournament." He makes sure the smile doesn't falter.

"Come on, Atsushi. We have to go if we want to make it back to Akita before it gets dark." He nods at Daichi before walking back out the door, grabbing one of Murasakibara's huge hands and pulling him out the door as well when the purple-haired giant doesn't move.

"See you later, Shou-chin," the teen says around a mouthful of chips, possibly also spraying his surroundings with crumbs (thankfully, it's not inside the gym).

"Bye, Murasakibara!" Hinata gives a half-hearted wave and goes right back to jogging as if nothing has happened. Kageyama joins him after giving the orange-haired boy a long, suspicious stare.

As he walks towards the lockers, Daichi contemplates and compartmentalizes all this new information. Given how the two interacted while there, as well as how Himuro treated Murasakibara's need to eat another prefecture's snacks, he can only imagine the suffering of a captain who has to deal with a Miracle that actually plays basketball.

 _Good luck,_ he thinks as he walks with Suga into the changing room, sending his prayers. _You'll need it._


	2. Yellow

_(A/N: I DID MATHS! I actually did math for how long it would take Hinata and Kise to run to the gym! You should be appreciative; I hate math, lol. Sorry this took so long, but there were a bunch of scenes I was really iffy about, so this chapter got rewritten like three times. I'm still not satisfied with it, but I don't think I'm going to get out anything that's better. It's so dramatiiiiiiiic.)_

* * *

"We're going to another school for practice matches in a week," Kise's coach announces to the team one day. "I want to work on cooperativity among players, even if you wouldn't normally play with them since our teamwork is lacking." Kise doesn't notice the pointed sideways look Coach Takeuchi sends him, too preoccupied with waving at the crowd of girls sitting on the bleachers. "To do this, some the second string players, along with Kasamatsu and Kise, will be participating in the matches, instead of the first string."

"I thought that we had a practice match with a school that's coming here in a couple of weeks," Kasamatsu interjects as soon as it seems like the coach is done.

The man waves a hand dismissively. "Neither will be against particularly important schools, which is why we'll be trying to work on specific things during the matches. Although the school is known for their national level volleyball team, their basketball program is lacking. It shouldn't be difficult to defeat both of them. These matches are to get you all into the rhythm of Kaijou's basketball."

"Which school are we going to, Coach?" Kasamatsu asks, so Kise drags himself to the conversation in time to hear the answer.

"Nekoma."

* * *

As they walk to the gym the team is supposed to meet at, Hinata ignores the giggling and squealing at first out of habit (after all, he'd heard it enough at Teiko to dismiss the sound entirely). He's still thinking about the quiet boy he just met, the one with partially dyed hair, the one who reminds him so much of Kuroko.

"What's that sound?" Hinata (barely) resists the urge to laugh at Kageyama's furrowed brow.

"What sound?"

"All that… laughing." The sound finally catches his attention and piques his interest. _I wonder who's here. I wonder if they're famous. I wonder if they're a volleyball player. What if they are? I shouldn't miss this opportunity!_

"Come on," he shouts, pulling at Kageyama's jacket, much to the other's bemusement (which is rapidly becoming irritation). "We have to go and ask them to have a match with us!"

Unfortunately for him, Kageyama chooses this moment to be particularly stubborn and digs his heels in, regardless of the relentless tugging. "You don't know if they play, dumbass. Besides, we're not even at Karasuno right now. You can't just go around challenging people." As always, Kageyama has to ruin his fun. Hinata frowns, momentarily ceasing his actions to think of a convincing argument. _But we should go!_ "Don't think too hard, idiot. I can see the steam coming out your ears."

Reflexively, Hinata huffs and growls angrily at the black-haired setter. "Fine, I'll go there myself," he says, storming off in the direction of the commotion.

He doesn't bother to stifle the smile that comes when he hears a curse and footsteps coming after him.

As they grow closer to the source of the commotion, the crowd of people becomes thicker. He hadn't really taken notice of it before, but Hinata soon realizes that the entirety of the mob seems to be consisted of… girls?

"I hear that he's a really famous model," a student whispers next to him to her companion. All four of them are rather removed from the crowd of people, standing a few feet back. He feels sort of disappointed that the source of all the disruption isn't here for volleyball, but he doesn't let that stop him from figuring out who this person is. A nagging suspicion tries to catch his attention, but Hinata quickly brushes it aside.

He grabs onto Kageyama's sleeve again, to catch his attention instead of pull him forward this time. "Oi, dumbass, can you… lift me up a bit?" It hurts his pride to admit it, but he can't see past the heads that are just a few scant inches lower than himself.

Kageyama turns an incredulous stare at him, which Hinata returns with another huff. The two stare at each other for a few moments until Kageyama sighs with an increasingly familiar why-do-I-put-up-with-him air and turns around to offer his back to him.

Hinata clambers on, tightening his grip as Kageyama straightens up. He's a bit amazed at the view ( _Is this what it feels like to be a tall person?_ ) before he finally catches sight of who exactly is causing so much chaos.

He stares with wide eyes at the gaggle of girls who are swarming around a familiar head full of blonde hair, nearly jerking back when golden eyes catch his own. He waves, watching Kise's expression brighten when he realizes that Hinata's actually acknowledging him. "Hinatacchiiii! Just give me five minutes!"

 _Does he really think that's going to take five minutes?_

"Do you know that person?" Kageyama asked, twisting around to catch Hinata in his peripheral vision.

"Yep, we played together in middle school," Hinata confirmed.

"Like the purple one?"

"Yeah. Put me down." Hinata pulls on the dark hair in front of him when Kageyama takes longer than he'd like to respond. After his feet touch the ground, he tugs on the setter's hand, pulling him a little further away from the edge of the crowd. "Kise wants to talk to me, so we should wait here until he's done."

"Dumbass. We're already late to the match and you want to hold us up even longer talking to this weirdo?" Hinata bristles at the offhand insult to his former teammate.

"Don't call him a weirdo!"

The confused look on Kageyama's face only serves to enrage him more. "But if he's anything like the purple one, he is a weirdo though."

 _That's true, but…_ "You can go ahead to practice, but I'm not… I'm not going to just leave him there," Hinata mutters. _There was enough of that in Teiko._

Several seconds passed before Kageyama finally let go of his conflicted snarl. "I need to let the others know that you'll be late," he explains, already turning away from Hinata. "At least neither of us will get in as much trouble," he calls over his shoulder, jogging in the direction of the volleyball gym.

* * *

Miraculously, Kise does manage to escape his fans within a couple of minutes, walking over to Hinata with a bright grin on his face. "Hinatacchi, it's been a while! I haven't heard about you at all since we all transferred schools. Did you know Momoicchi found Kurokocchi? She's kind of scary when it comes to him, don't you think? But all of us were surprised when both of you went to no-name schools!"

"You guys didn't know that he went to Seirin?" Hinata asks, confused.

"Whaaat, you did?!" Kise's comically outraged face fills his vision. "How come you didn't tell any of us?!"

Hinata purses his lips. "Hm… Probably the same reason that Tetsu didn't tell you."

"What?"

He waves off Kise's question. "He'll tell you later. Ah!" He finally remembers where he needs to be. "I forgot! I need to get to my practice match!"

"How could you forget your practice match, Hinatacchi?" He grins sheepishly at Kise's exasperated expression. "Oh, that reminds me too. I should let Senpai know that I'll be hanging out with you today." The blonde pulls a yellow flip phone out of his pocket, quickly sending a text and happily disregarding how it immediately explodes with vibrations.

"Shouldn't you take care of that?" Hinata asks, concerned. Kise waves him off, simply tucking the phone into a pocket on his bag. Shrugging, he just files it under "Weird Things Kise Does".

"Come on, I'll race you to the gym!" He starts running for the gym without waiting for confirmation from Kise, laughing at the outraged noises coming from the blonde basketball player.

"No fair, Hinatacchi, you started before me!" Despite his complaints, however, Kise soon catches up, so Hinata pushes harder, urging himself faster, faster, _faster._

By the time they're halfway to their destination, Hinata running almost as fast as he possibly can. Walls and windows fly by as Hinata absentmindedly contemplates how fast he's going. _I'm definitely going faster than when I'm doing our quick, but probably not as fast as when I need to do a drive to get past Daiki._

When Kageyama told him during the first-years' competition to run and jump as fast as he could, Hinata did his best, he really did. But that tiny part of him that's still deeply embedded with the Generation of Miracles, the part that still considers Akashi's orders absolute, the part that still thinks victory is _completely and unconditionally necessary_ held him back.

Akashi had said once that they needed to restrain themselves because their talents were-are-developing faster than their bodies could keep up. So Hinata restrained himself, slowed his footsteps. But now that there is someone he _knows_ can keep up with him, well…

Hinata can feel the bright grin stretch across his face when he hears the happy whoop from behind him.

* * *

Kise's groan reaches him from where the blond is collapsed on the ground. "Hinatacchi, I already know that you're faster than me, you don't need to keep proving it." He would reply, but all of his focus is currently on not folding into a heap on the ground, hands braced on his knees as he waits for the air to return to his lungs.

A trip that would normally take fifteen minutes was reduced to a little over two with the speed they were running at. _I don't think I've run like that since Teiko,_ Hinata thinks satisfactorily and pauses momentarily at the thought. _Huh, I guess middle school was good for_ something _._

After another few seconds of catching his breath, Hinata straightens up and offers his hand to Kise, who takes it ( _Unlike the ungrateful dumbass,_ thinks Hinata vindictively).

The sounds of squeaking sneakers and muffled orders are already coming through the door, which only serves to remind him of another thought that's been lurking in his mind. "Hey, Kise."

"Yeah, Hinatacchi?"

"What are you doing at Nekoma?"

Kise freezes for an instant before relaxing. "I have a practice match, but it's okay," Kise replies airily.

Hinata thinks back to the text that Kise sent earlier, the one that prompted so many replies. "Shouldn't you get to that?" he asks, bewildered.

The blonde merely waves off his concern. "They're not anything that the upperclassmen can't handle.

"You shouldn't underestimate your opponents like that, Kise," he says, brows drawing together in a frown.

Kise sends Hinata a confused look. "I'm not saying anything that's not true. Besides, I'd much rather spend my time with someone who actually deserves it," he adds brightly. Used to hearing similar things, Hinata merely sighs and takes a moment to brace himself before he has to face the music.

Drawing in a deep breath, Hinata throws open the door to the gym and folds himself into a bow as soon as he steps across the threshold. "Sorry I'm late!" he shouts.

Sounds cease. After a moment, Hinata dares to look up, only to gulp as he meets the eyes of his clearly enraged captain. "Hinata… Care to explain why you're so impolite as to arrive late to a game _we_ asked for?" Although Daichi's nowhere near as terrifying as Akashi when the redhead is out to get someone, he's certainly scary in his own way.

Under the pressure of Daichi's glare, Hinata blurts, "I ran into an old teammate on the way here, but I promise I ran here as quickly as possible!" He holds in a sigh of relief as his captain's attention switches from him to Kise.

"Oh, who are you?"

"My name's K-"

"Hey, I recognize you," Tanaka interrupts. "You're the model Kise Ryouta, right?" When everyone shoots him weird looks, he quickly adds, "My sister leaves her magazines out sometimes, okay?"

"Yep, that's me," Kise confirms. He waves when Daichi stares at him expectantly, but otherwise offers no other information.

"What are you doing here?" he finally prompts. Understanding dawns on Kise's face.

"Oh, I was hoping I could watch," the basketball player says with a hopeful look on his face, sparkles and all.

The old man, who Hinata assumes is Nekoma's coach, laughs and grins. "Why not? The more, the merrier."

* * *

Kise stays until the very end of the practice matches. The sun is already beginning to set outside, and assuming that the Kaijou team is still there, waiting for him, they're not going to get back to Kanagawa until late at night.

After seeing each and every one of Karasuno's defeats, he can't take it any more. Kise quickly makes his way down the stairs from the balcony when Hinata calls for yet another match, much to the alarm of the Nekoma coach. He grabs everyone's attention when he walks onto the court.

"Would you mind it if I subbed for the black-haired one over there?" he asks, pointing in Kageyama's direction.

"Kise?" He smiles reassuringly at Hinata, but he's pretty sure it didn't do what it was meant to do, since the orange-haired teen still looks worried.

"You play setter?" The coach with bleached hair eyes him with an intensity vaguely reminiscent of Akashi.

"I guess you could say that," Kise replies, still smiling. "I only want to test something out, if that's alright with you." He waits impatiently as the coach makes eye contact with the other one, who gives his consent, and then the brunet captain, who hesitates for a moment before nodding.

"Alright. Kageyama!" The coach calls out to the black-haired player, who promptly trots over with a dark look on his face. "Kise'll take your place for just one set, and then we've got to get back to Miyagi."

He smirks as he walks towards the group of players waiting on the court. "I won't need any longer than that. Hinatacchi!" he calls. "We finally get to play together again." He beams, though it quickly morphs into a frown. "Too bad it's not basketball." Mentally shaking himself back on track, he adds, "Run and jump like you would for Kageyama's, alright?"

Hinata just sighs and nods, eyeing him with an uncharacteristic frown.

"Oi, can we start now?" Tanaka calls. A volleyball is thrown over to the Nekoma team and the next game begins.

Kise had been carefully observing the Karasuno setter during the first game, recognizing the way he kept an eye on the ball, his own team, _and_ the other team, strategizing all the while. _A bit like Kurokocchi, hm? Except that no one could measure up to Kurokocchi, of course!_

He takes a deep breath, channelling that calm focus that was so typical of the black-haired setter. The analytical aspect of Kageyama's talent-how he can determine who is the best option when, why, and how-isn't something that Kise can copy, but he _can_ copy the pinpoint accurate tosses.

After the short one with the small tuft of brown hair receives the ball, he quickly situates himself under it, tossing it to Hinata out of curiosity. Unsurprisingly, the enthusiastic brunet once again blocks the orange-haired spiker, much to Hinata's frustration.

Kise thinks he's found the problem.

"You don't need to keep holding back anymore." He winks at Hinata, stifling a laugh when he sees Kageyama stiffen out of the corner of his eye. _A guy like him would probably hate the idea that he was holding someone back._

"Kise…" A grip on the collar of his t-shirt brings him to eye level with Hinata's intense glare. "You'd better not be messing with us." _Whoa, Hinatacchi must really like these guys, eh?_

"Calm down, Hinatacchi. I'm just helping since these guys can't use your full potential." The assurance only grants him another suspicious look. Kise sobers up. "We both know that only someone from the Generation of Miracles can bring out your all."

The look on Hinata's face doesn't leave, but the orange-haired player returns to his spot.

The other teams serves again, but this time, when the brown-tuft person receives the ball, Hinata dashes forward and leaps with the speed and power that Akashi had once termed "Crow's Flight." (Later, Kise's marvels at how Hinata managed to go to the school that just _happened_ to have "crow" in its name.) The opposing team doesn't have time to react at all before the ball is already slamming into the ground on their side of the courts.

Kise feels proud when he sees the shocked faces of the people around him, hearing their whispers, knowing that his and Hinata's combined efforts put them there.

"Is that what the Generation of Miracles does?"

"Whoa, that's terrifying."

"At least I'll never have to go up against them in a game."

"I'm glad I don't play basketball."

 _That's right_ , he thinks. _You could never measure up to people like us, because we'll always be bet-_

"Kise."

* * *

Hinata stares at the redness of his hand for a moment, playing back the motions of the spike he just made. Strangely enough, even with the different movements and situation, it felt closer to a dunk than any one of the absolutely amazing spikes that he's performed with Kageyama.

Hinata's finding it hard to encapsulate his rage at Kise into words. He returned to volleyball because it was-an escape from basketball, from his former teammates, from their _hate_ , both for the game and the way they brought it wherever they went, whoever they played against. And now Kise has brought it to his _haven_ and Hinata's not sure he can forgive him for that.

"Kise," he begins again, trying to shape his thoughts into words, "You probably mean well, but _stop_." He tries to inject menace that Akashi can tuck into his speech at the drop of his hat into his own words, and it works a lot better than he thought it would, since Kise pouts petulantly but his shoulders relax and he loses the haughty look on his face. "I don't think we should finish the rest of this set." Coach Ukai looks vastly confused, but accepts it with an exasperated "fine."

"Oi, dumbass, if you can run like that, why didn't you do it when I tossed you the ball?" Kageyama shouts as he walks back towards the court.

Kise rolls his eyes. "We're better than you, obviously." Hinata jabs him in the stomach with a move he learned from Kuroko.

"I'll tell you later. Kise, you still have to get back to your own school, right? You should get going," Hinata says, going so far as to gently push the other in the direction of the doors.

Kise hesitates as he walks out the door, turning back one last time to face Hinata with a forlorn expression. "Could you at least consider playing basketball again?" He hesitates and then adds quietly so that only Hinata hears: "I miss playing with all of you."

 _Maybe. Maybe I can try again, but-_ "Not like this, Kise," Hinata replies. "Not when you still don't realize why Teiko's basketball was _wrong_." He's staring at the volleyball in his hands, but he can only see the bumps and grooves of a vastly different orange ball. After another beat of silence, Kise leaves.

Kageyama comes up behind him. "So, what exactly is up with you and that guy and that spike?"

"The Generation of Miracles is… _different_ ," he says slowly. "I can't do that _fwoosh_ spike with you even if I tried and to be honest, I don't think I'd want to, even if I could."

"Why not?" The frustrated, but genuine confusion in his voice is the only thing that convinces Hinata to answer.

"Because it gets boring. When you can't improve any more, when you lose interest in something you _love_ ," he says, thinking of Aomine. "That's what the Generation of Miracles are, really. Volleyball is… is _fwoom_ and _pash_ and _vwosh_ when basketball is _boom_ and _swish_ and _bam_ , a-and I can't do something like that to something I love ever again." To his surprise, tears are leaking steadily out of his eyes, so he roughly wipes them away.

Kageyama looks alarmed and increasingly out of his depth, but the black-haired setter still reaches over to awkwardly pat him on the back. "You, uh, have us now, dumbass."

"That's right," Daichi says, coming up behind Hinata. "We're all supporting you."

"We don't have to have skills like the Generation of Miracles," Kageyama continues, gaining confidence. "Because I'll make us number one in Japan anyway."

"Don't forget about me," Sugawara chimes in, the rest of the Karasuno volleyball club joining in.

A pointed cough from the other side of the net catches their attention. "Not that I don't appreciate this truly touching scene," says Kuroo, grinning, "but don't think that we're going to let you beat us that easily." Kenma nods his agreement.

Hinata gives a watery smile around his tears. _I wouldn't trade this for the world._

* * *

 _(A/N: Kise starts calling Kageyama "Yamacchi" (if that like actually works in Japanese) after Karasuno is defeated by Seijoh in the Interhigh.)_


	3. Red

_(A/N: This takes place right after the Interhigh Preliminaries and Karasuno's match with Seijoh (you know the one). Some of the dialogue is taken directly from the Crunchyroll translation. This was written under the assumption that the basketball and volleyball Interhighs take place at the same time.)_

* * *

Hinata jerks his head out from underneath the running water, still playing back that last point in his mind, wondering what he could have done better. He knows that he should be proud-and he is-but a loss is still a loss. He's trapped between the glowing pride he has in himself and his team that they managed to stand up against Aoba Jousai and the absolute crushing despair of a defeat even after they managed to come so far- _I guess I still haven't gotten over my Teiko thinking yet._ He brushes aside the reflexive self-hatred that his middle school drilled into them with a shake of his head and looks over to where Kageyama still has his head shoved under the faucet.

"Hey, the meeting's going to start soon," he mutters. He waits for Kageyama to lift his head and dry off, but isn't prepared for what the black-haired setter says.

"Sorry. They totally read me in the end." He rapidly fills with furious indignation at what that casual apology is supposed to mean because Kageyama is implying-is saying that he regrets that toss, regrets having Hinata as his partner, regrets their whole team's effort in the end, and Hinata tackles him in his haste to make him understand.

"Don't apologize!" Hinata overestimates the amount of strength needed to shove at Kageyama's limp form and they both topple over into the grass. "Don't-don't make it sound like tossing to me was a mistake!" He can feel the tears prickling at the boundaries of his control, but he continues to glare at Kageyama, whose face is contorted in a snarl, until someone interrupts them a moment later.

"How unsightly." Hinata freezes at the silky voice and slowly (reluctantly) turns to look at its source.

A familiar red-head stares down at them with unfamiliar red and yellow eyes, the white and blue jacket of his school uniform draped on his shoulders swaying slightly in the gentle breeze. Hinata quickly scrambles up, making a show of brushing off his shorts, even pulling Kageyama to his feet, anything to draw out the amount of time until he has to look Akashi in the eyes.

Unfortunately, it's unavoidable, and the tiny smirk at the edge of his former captain's lips lets him know that his efforts didn't go by unnoticed. "Akashi," he acknowledges through gritted teeth. "What brings you all the way to Miyagi?" Kageyama is unusually still at his side and Hinata prays that he doesn't do anything rash. "Shouldn't you be practicing for your own matches?"

"Rakuzan's victory is assured, of course. Unlike yours." Hinata doesn't bother to hide the wince that results-Akashi would see it either way with that Emperor Eye of his. "I thought that I would come to see a previous teammate's acceptance into the Interhigh. However, I only managed to witness failure. You've disappointed me, Shouyou."

Hinata's fists clench unconsciously and he doesn't even know why Akashi's heavy gaze and harsh words are still getting to him a year later. He opens his mouth to coax out a retort, but he can't convince himself to use his voice.

"You also failed to show up at the meeting I called to discuss the high schools we would be going to. Nor were you present at any of our matches later that year or this year." Akashi's tone doesn't change while he's talking, but Hinata is used to picking up on the slight threat hiding beneath the red-head's words. "You dare defy me, Shouyou?"

"Of course he dares to defy you!" Hinata holds back a sigh at the sound of Kageyama's voice. He's grateful for the help, he really is, but the idiot's just made himself a target-

"And who might you be?" He can tell when Kageyama receives the full weight of Akashi's stare by the (obvious) way he tenses.

"I'm the guy who's going to help the dumbass and the rest of the team become number one in Japan," he declares, and Hinata would facepalm if he weren't terrified of what Akashi would do. _Please no scissors, no scissors, no scissors, no scissors_ , he chants silently to himself.

To his surprise, however, Akashi does not pull out his favorite pair of red scissors. Instead, he chuckles and Hinata's fairly sure that the sight is just as scary. "First Kuroko and now you. It seems that our time in Teiko wasn't enough to teach you that I am absolute." Hinata hopes it's just his imagination that Akashi's yellow eye glints ominously. _What does he mean by first Kuroko and now me? What did Kuroko do?_

Akashi turns his attention back to Kageyama. "I do not allow those who do not serve me to look down on me." Hinata watches in horror as Akashi reaches up and places his hand on Kageyama's shoulder with a deceptively gentle grace. "On your knees." With what looks like no effort at all, Kageyama is suddenly on the ground, glaring up at Akashi bewilderedly.

"I am sure you know you know someone by the name of Ushijima Wakatoshi." Hinata blinks at the apparent non sequitur and nods hesitantly. "He was one of the starters at Teiko." With a sharp turn, Akashi begins walking to the gated exit, jacket billowing behind him.

"Oh," Hinata says weakly. He knows intellectually that Akashi chose to reveal this now because it would have the most psychological impact. Yet he's still suddenly filled with doubts because he knows first-hand what Teiko emphasized (victory), what it valued (victory), its only acceptable result (victory), and if Ushiwaka was raised there as well, he would-

A cuff to the back of his head broke Hinata out of his thoughts. He only had the energy to stare at Kageyama (who apparently got up while he was freaking out internally), but that seemed to be enough for the other. "Don't be a dumbass, dumbass." The setter tilted his head with that same confidence that identified him as "king" when Hinata first saw him. "Volleyball is a team sport. It's not just your will that will bring us to the top. Daichi-san, Sugawara-san, Asahi-san, Tanaka-senpai, Nishinoya-senpai, even Tsukishima," Hinata laughs weakly at the sour expression on Kageyama's face, "and Yamaguchi, they're here for you, too. We're _all_ going to be number one."

He holds his fist out and Hinata's breath catches in his throat because Kageyama can't possibly know the significance of that gesture, but it makes his heart feel like a sun all the same. Hinata might actually shed a tear again.

 _Two fists bump against each other as a king and his sun walk towards their future._


	4. Green

_(A/N: Unlike (most) everyone else, I absolutely love OP characters (unless the name of that OP character happens to me Kirito). Hinata is just awesome like that. Just as a reminder, Karasuno's name is often read wrong because the 'karasu' part is often read as 'tori' instead ('crow' vs 'bird').)_

* * *

"Midorimaaaaaa!" Takao's momentarily confused when the enthusiastic shout snags his attention. _Wow, I don't think anyone else has ever shouted Shin-chan's name that happily before._ "Long time no see!" He nearly laughs out loud when Midorima mutters beside him, "Not nearly long enough." Then, louder, he adds, "What are you doing here, Hinata?"

The speaker of the shout turns out to be a short, orange-haired teen with a huge grin stretching across his face. Takao is just about to question Midorima about who this strangely energetic person is when said person sticks out his hand. "I'm Hinata Shouyou. It's nice to see Midorima socializing with someone other than his books."

"Takao Kazunari," he replies, grinning back. Hinata shakes his hand with the same enthusiasm that he called out to Midorima with.

Turning to Midorima, Hinata explains, "We're here for a few practice matches against Nekoma. Daichi-san sent us out for a run around town and I happened to see you, so I decided to say hi!"

Takao slides a glance over at Midorima, silently asking a question.

Midorima sighs a breath out his nose, explaining succinctly, "He's known us longer than Kise, but didn't make it up to the first string until after Kise replaced Haizaki, so he never played in any major official games. He did play in a few minor tournaments though."

Takao blinks at the orange tufts of hair waving _just_ below his nose and files Midorima's comment away for later. "This kid played on the first string at Teiko? I mean, Kuroko and Akashi are short, but he's really pushing the limits of believability, Shin-chan." _Shin-chan's old teammates just keep getting weirder and weirder…_

"Oi!"

"I'm partially surprised he hadn't been squashed by Murasakibara," he muses just to watch the little chibi's face get steadily more flushed. Honestly, though, he's surprised that the orange-haired teen had associated with the Generation of Miracles at all, considering that he seemed to have come out of the experience rather well adjusted. "What position do you play?"

"Middle blocker," Hinata answers immediately, so Takao stares at him uncomprehendingly until Hinata stammers at his mistake, face red like a tomato. "Sorry, I currently play volleyball," he says. "In Teiko, I was officially a small forward."

"He swapped with Aomine more than Kise in practice matches, though," Midorima interjects, pushing up his glasses with a finger.

Takao stares at Hinata with no small amount of disbelief. "This tiny guy swapped with _Aomine_?"

"I may be small, but I can jump!" the chibi yells, glaring at him. "You and me are going to have a one on one." (Hinata seethes internally. He just _had_ to choose the two sports populated by tall people.)

Takao laughs disbelievingly until he realizes that Hinata was being serious. "Sure," he replies, still chuckling. "There are some courts not far from here." He points to where the metal fence could be seen past some trees and Hinata begins stomping off in that direction. Turning to Midorima with a smile still on his face, it quickly disappears when he sees Midorima's expression. "What's wrong?"

Midorima fiddles with his lucky item of the day and Takao has to suppress a grimace when it squeaks. _The lengths this guy goes to for Oha-Asa… Carrying around a dog toy of all things. It could be worse though. Unfortunately._ "Oha-Asa predicts a bad outcome for a Scorpio who challenges a Cancer."

A furrow forms in Takao's brow as he thinks over what Midorima just said. "Chibi-chan is a Cancer too? But he's so different from you!" He gives Midorima an exaggeratedly shocked face, laughing inside as Midorima's eye twitches. Clapping him on the back for increased conviction, Takao declares, "Don't worry, Shin-chan. How hard can it be to beat such a tiny guy?"

* * *

An hour later, Takao is collapsed on the ground, wheezing. "Damn," he breathes, looking at Hinata in a new light. This kid _definitely_ could have substituted for Aomine at some point. Although his skills were clearly rusty, it was easy to imagine how formidable he would have been when he still practiced basketball. "How are you still so fast? You've been running for an hour straight!"

They both originally agree on a twenty minute game, person with the most points as winner. Midorima was the reluctant referee and scorekeeper, standing stiffly on the sidelines. Hinata had laughed, saying that Takao would win, especially since he hadn't practiced in a while.

A couple of minutes into the game, Takao is inclined to believe him. Hinata would have been considered a mediocre player; he was fast and had quick reflexes, but his clumsiness while handling the ball led to large gaps in his play that Takao could easily steal into.

"Oops," Hinata says with an embarrassed laugh, dribbling the ball slowly. "Volleyballs are so much lighter than basketballs. I'll get it used to it soon." He then tries for a drive, but Takao matches him, stealing the ball in a moment of hesitation coupled with a slight fumble, and shooting the ball into the hoop in a move that Midorima would have been proud of if he hadn't been exposed to the ridiculous standards of Teiko.

Takao ends up winning the game by a good margin, and he's vaguely disappointed that someone of Hinata's caliber is acknowledged among the Generation of Miracles. He's about to tell Midorima that they should start heading home when he catches the glint in Hinata's eyes and is inclined to shiver at the sheer intensity there.

"One more game," Hinata says. "I haven't lost yet."

They start again, except this time, Takao's pretty sure that Hinata's movements are surer, his footsteps faster. He steals the ball and shoots again, scoring the first points of the match, when, all of a sudden, Hinata is _there_ , catching the ball, darting past him to shoot the ball into the other hoop. He would compare it to Kuroko's Misdirection, but he's fairly certain that he had his eye on Hinata the entire time, but just _couldn't move_.

"Whoa, Chibi-chan, that was pretty impressive."

"I've got more where that came from!"

This time, Takao makes sure to watch him even more closely and just when Hinata's about to cross the three-point line, he goes to steal the ball, assuming that Hinata will stop to shoot. Instead, Hinata breezes past him, and _holy shit_ , he's practically jumping as high as Takao is tall. He's too dumbfounded to even try to block him. _Kagami's jumps have got_ nothing _on this kid's._

As they play, he's pretty sure that Hinata's just getting faster, although his shots tended to miss more often than not. It's not even as if Hinata's plays are particularly hard to counter, the kid was just _that goddamn fast_.

Takao stops for moment to catch his breath. "Wow, you're so fast, my Hawk's Eye can't keep up with you."

Hinata grins at him before suddenly offering, "My setter's a bit like you." Takao's not entirely sure how he's supposed to receive this tidbit of information, but thankfully, Hinata follows up with, "He can see the entire court, too. His passes are like _gwah_ and _fwosh_ , and," here, Hinata leans in conspiratorially, and Takao follows the action even though he has no idea what the noises coming out of Hinata's mouth are supposed to mean, "don't tell him I said this, but he's pretty awesome." Hinata leans out of their impromptu huddle with a beaming smile. "Let's keep playing!" Takao wonders if Hinata knows that he doesn't have a clue who Hinata's setter is.

Hinata wins the second match by a handful of points, and Takao's fairly certain that if he was more accurate, Hinata would have bested him by a lot more than he did. By the third match, Takao can't even pretend to keep up with the small whirlwind anymore, instead opting to sit down heavily in order to catch his breath. Shuutoku hasn't played Touou yet, but he imagines that playing against Aomine must feel similar.

"Why didn't you continue with basketball?" Takao asks, genuinely curious. Hinata's a fantastic player, with incredible stamina and reflexes, even if he is a bit clumsy. He's raw talent and power, as opposed to the rest of the Generation of Miracles' carefully honed skill and force.

"There's nothing left for me." His brow creases at this and he darts a glance over where Hinata's still fiddling with the basketball. Midorima disappeared at some point, most likely to buy refreshments because despite the vehement denials from the tsundere, he still cares just the tiniest bit about his teammates. (Hinata doesn't tell him that it's also partially habit from when Akashi scolded them many, _many_ times for not hydrating enough after a game.)

"What?"

Hinata hums, looking distinctly uncomfortable and avoiding his gaze. "Basketball just isn't the sport for me, and besides, I—"

"Oi, dumbass!" Both of them jerk their heads towards the sudden shout. Takao spots a lanky, black-haired, and angry looking teen stalking over to them, a sports jersey with… Torino? printed on it. "Where have you been, you idiot?"

"Hah?! I've been here the entire time!"

"Like I believe you!"

"Just ask Takao!" He blinks as he's dragged into the argument between two hotheaded teens glaring at each other.

"It's true," Takao says as the dark-haired teen turns to him. "He's been with me for at least an hour of the time he's been gone." He starts when the other suddenly folds into a bow.

"Thank you for taking care of this idiot." He eyes Takao appraisingly. "Do you play?"

 _He didn't see us?_ "Yeah, I do. Are you the setter that Hinata mentioned?" He recognizes the sharp glint in the other's eyes, sees it in his own when he looks in the mirror. Takao sticks out a hand because he can be courteous when he wants to. "I'm Takao Kazunari."

"Kageyama Tobio. What position?"

"Point guard." He has to bite back a chuckle at the confused look on Kageyama's face. _Ah, can't laugh at someone the first time I meet them._

"You don't play volleyball?"

"Well, we _are_ on a basketball court."

"Takao's the friend of my friend from Teiko," Hinata interjects enthusiastically and Takao doesn't miss the darkening expression on Kageyama's face at the mention of that middle school. _Another school that received Teiko's curbstomping, huh? Guess they're not just limited to basketball._

"Takao is not my friend." All of them start at the sound of Midorima's voice, turning to see the green-haired teenager walk up to them with a can and popsicle in hand.

"Aw, Shin-chan is such a tsundere! Why don't you just admit that we're friends?" Takao teases as Midorima hands the can to him and the popsicle to Hinata. He turns it around in his hands just to check, and sure enough, it's red bean soup.

Hinata eagerly unwraps the popsicle and sends Midorima an indecipherable look, which Takao makes a mental note to question him about later. _Probably has to do with something during his Teiko days…_

"Hey, dumbass, we don't have time for you to be eating popsicles. Daichi-san and the others are probably waiting for us!" Kageyama gives them another brief bow before hurrying over to his teammate.

Hinata gets dragged off by the ear and Takao laments the day the coach decided to bring one of the Generation of Miracles onto the team because it's totally his fault that Takao has to put up with this craziness.

* * *

 _(A/N: Yes, Kageyama did just assume that Hinata was talking to a stranger on the street that happens to like volleyball.)_


	5. Light Blue

_A/N: I'm so, so sorry that this is coming out so late! I really didn't mean for this to take so long… School has been incredibly hectic._

 _I have parts of the future chapters written, but just no time to edit or add to them, sorry. But never fear! I promise that I have not abandoned this fic/series, and don't plan to. It might take me a while (a looong while) to get the chapters out, but I do plan to finish this. :) Thank you to those of you who encouraged me to keep writing! I read each and every one of your reviews, even if I forget to reply to them._

 _Also, I'm mainly active on AO3 now. I don't know who cares, but I thought I might let you guys know?_

* * *

Riko watches as her players file off the bus, yawning and groaning loudly.

It's finally cooling down a little after the sweltering summer, so she thought she'd let them play on the courts outside for a day as a treat. Coincidentally, other sports teams had the same idea, so she borrowed one of the buses reserved for the sports teams to drive around and find a court that wasn't already being used.

"Oi, where's Kuroko?" Riko shouts after making the boys count off. Unfortunately, she's actually starting to get used to him running off all the time. She automatically looks at Kagami, assumes that he knows where his blue-haired partner is, but the redhead looks just as clueless as she is.

"How am I supposed to know where he-oh hey, Kuroko." She turns around and Kuroko's suddenly standing _three feet away from her_ and she jumps because that's something that she's never going to get used to. Riko likes to think that she's getting better at looking for his presence and actually finding it, but sometimes Kuroko still manages to surprise her.

"Where were you?" she asks suspiciously, already itching to put the blank-faced teen into the Boston Crab Hold. Before she can, though, Kuroko steps aside to reveal a cheery orange-haired teen who's somehow shorter than Kuroko.

"I ran into a previous acquaintance and thought that I would invite him to watch our match," Kuroko explains tonelessly. Riko's eyes narrow. _Any previous acquaintance of his probably also went to Teiko._

Turning her attention from Kuroko to the smiling boy standing next to him, her eyebrows raise involuntarily just at the limited stats on his limbs that she can see without asking him to strip. "You," she barks. "What school do you go to?"

"Karasuno!" the teen declares in a cheery voice. The name is unfamiliar so Riko wracks her brain, wondering whether she's ever heard of it. "It's in the Miyagi prefecture, so you probably haven't heard of us. We're the home of the Little Giant!" When she just continues staring at him with incomprehension, the other frowns. "Haven't you heard of him? He's my idol!"

"No," she says bluntly. "If your school's in Miyagi, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here for practice matches between us and Nekoma! Our coaches are really good friends with each other." _That answers the question and yet doesn't explain anything._ "Thanks for having me," the teen tacks on as an afterthought.

Riko opens her mouth to further interrogate him, but a light brush of a hand to her elbow is enough to stop her. "We should probably get to the courts," Kiyoshi reminds her. "What's your name?" he asks the orange-haired teen grinning at them sunnily.

"I'm Hinata Shouyou! Nice to meet you!" There's a quick chorus of "Nice to meet you too."

"We'd better get going," Hyuuga agrees briskly, "before the courts are taken again."

The rest of the basketball team march on to their destination, but Hinata lags behind to walk with Kuroko. Riko decides to let him go from her clutches for now. _He probably just wants to catch up with his old friend._

* * *

"Eyebrows!" is the first thing Hinata says when he sets eyes on Kagami after Kuroko introduces them. The tall redhead has the most ridiculous eyebrows that he's ever seen-they're split! Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Kuroko trying to stifle his chuckles.

Kagami twitches at the exclamation. "Shorty," he retorts, which has Hinata virtually jumping with rage. "Are you even in high school?"

"Of course I am! I may be short, but I can jump high!" Hinata blurts instinctively, glaring at the other teen. He's slightly surprised when the other merely raises one of his weird eyebrows.

"Yeah? I bet that you can't jump higher than me."

"Yes, I can!"

"I don't believe you."

"I can!"

"Nope."

"Yeah!"

"Why are you here? Kuroko interrupts quickly, before the argument can devolve into a childish shouting match.

"Practice matches with Nekoma," he replies, confused. Hadn't he just explained this to Kuroko's manager-coach person?

Kuroko shakes his head. "Shouldn't you be playing in those practice matches?"

That makes things much clearer. "Oh, Daichi-san-ah, that's my captain-gave us the afternoon off to recuperate since we're still trying to iron out all our new combos." Hinata doesn't mention how Daichi had all but thrown his hands up and ordered them all out of the gym before they over-exhausted themselves and their opponents. _Everything everyone is doing is so cool though! I can't help but want to just keep practicing until we get it right every time._ His hands are still pleasantly sore from the secret practicing that he and Kageyama did the previous night.

"We're here! Since we have eleven people with us-oi! You! Hinata-kun, right?" Hinata starts as his name is called by Kuroko's manager-coach person. "Are you playing?" Hinata shakes his head in the negative, watching as the people are sorted into two teams. "Fukuda, you stay out for this round. You'll switch with Teppei every few games to let him rest his knee, okay?" Bored, Hinata wanders over to the side of the court to find a nice shady spot to stand in.

By the time he trots over to the shadows cast by a few overhanging trees on the far side of the court, followed closely by the manager-coach-who the other people were calling 'Riko-san'-the other people were beginning to warm up by running laps and stretching. He looked for Kuroko, slightly worried, but thankfully, the pale teen didn't seem as if he would keel over any time soon.

Discarding his jacket, Hinata casually dribbles one of the extra basketballs for the next few minutes, once again familiarizing himself with the feel of the orange ball. Despite the games he played against Midorima's friend Takao, he still wasn't entirely used to the now-unfamiliar weight of a basketball. "So, how do you know Kuroko?" He messes up the rhythm of his dribbling at the unexpected question and hurriedly catches the ball before it can roll too far away.

"Uhh," Hinata stalls as he tries to remember Riko's question. "Oh, I was on the team at Teiko." He's confused at how Riko cocks an eyebrow as if she's skeptical.

"I thought there were only five Generation of Miracles. And Kuroko," she hastily adds.

Hinata's shaking his head before she's done with her sentence. "I'm not one of the Miracles and didn't really play in all that many official games." The suddenly sympathetic expression on her face confuses him more than the skeptical look. _Why is she looking at me like that?_ An awkward impromptu staring match ensues.

Finally, Riko clears her throat, looking uncomfortable. "Well, if you plan on watching the practice games, they're going to start pretty soon."

Hinata quickly hands the spare basketball to Riko so she can store it properly, nearly vibrating with excitement. Even though he had played the match against Midorima's new friend, he's excited to witness a live basketball match, especially since he gets to see Kuroko play.

Everyone gets into position. Riko blows her whistle before tossing the ball into the air.

Hinata quickly picks up on Kuroko and Kagami's pass-dunk combo, and after spending a long moment feeling almost unbearably happy for his friend, he studies the other half of the pair.

He frowns as he watches Kagami violently dunk yet another ball and after another ten minutes of observing, the first break is called. Tapping on Riko's shoulder, he asks, "Hey, can you hand me a basketball?" She hands the orange ball to him and Hinata begins to head onto the court before stopping and turning back to face her. "Did anyone teach Kagami how to jump?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did anyone tell Kagami how to jump?"

"Well, not that I know of, no. He seems to be doing just fine on his own, though," she answers slowly. Hinata rubs his chin, considering.

"That's what you think."

* * *

"Hey, Kagami!" He looks over at the call of his name, spotting the orange-haired chibi that Kuroko found and brought back. "Play a one-on-one with me!" Kagami grins at the challenge. Even if he's got no idea who the kid is, he never refuses a match.

"Yeah, sure, kid." Setting his water bottle down and wiping his face of sweat with his shirt, he goes to join Hinata on the now-empty courts, but a tug on his sleeve brings him to a stop.

"Kagami-kun." He prides himself on being able to read Kuroko's monotonous facial expressions, and this one is tinged with a bare hint of concern.

"What is it, Kuroko?"

"Hinata-kun is… he's…" (Several words flash through Kuroko's head. Brave. Cheerful. Dangerous. A friend/comrade/pillar of support. Invincible. A Miracle, in all senses of the word. However, what comes out is-) "...not to be underestimated."

Kagami is dubious, but he nods anyway. "Thanks, Kuroko."

He heads towards Hinata, who has a basketball tucked under his arm. "First one to five points wins," Hinata says, but he's looking at Kuroko. Kagami's not entirely sure why, but significant looks among the Generation of Miracles are passed around like currency, so he doesn't question it.

Hinata passes the ball to him. "Bring it!"

He starts with a slow dribble, looking to see how Hinata reacts, but the other teen just remains relaxed, with a bright smile on his face. _Well, if he's going to make it easy for me…_ Charging forward, he quickly steals past Hinata and dunks the ball in the basket. It occurs to him that it seems a little too simple, given Kuroko's warning. He opens his mouth to say something, but Hinata beats him to it.

"Ah, I was right. You suck at jumping." The orange-haired chibi says it cheerfully, with a smile, so it takes Kagami a while to realize what he just said.

 _Whaaaat?_ "Whaaaat?"

Hinata points an accusatory finger at him. "You. Suck. At jumping." Kagami marches over there and nearly hoists the other up by his collar, but decides at the last moment that it probably wouldn't be a good idea.

"Wanna say that again?"

"Ah, you jump really high, though." If Kagami's thoughts had to be expressed solely by punctuation, it would consist entirely of question marks. _This guy just keeps getting more and more confusing._

"I suck at jumping, I jump really high. Make up your mind!"

"What don't you understand?" Hinata has the nerve to look bewildered.

"You can't insult and compliment me at the same time!"

"I can't?"

"No!"

"Oh, well then." Hinata breaks off to look contemplative, completely ignoring the increasingly incensed look on Kagami's face. "Your jumps are totally amazing. Really tall!" _Tall?_ "But they look all wrong. It's like you're going _bam_ instead of _fwoom_."

"The hell are you going on about?"

"Here, just let me show you." Hinata gestures at him impatiently, so Kagami goes over to the edge of the court, where the ball stopped after his dunk. Throwing the ball over to Hinata, Kagami goes over to stand by the side, but another loud shout stops him in his tracks. "Hey, you're not going to learn anything from all the way over there! C'mon, we're still playing to five!"

Kagami rolls his eyes and takes up a defensive stance in front of the chibi when the other teen begins dribbling. _What does this shorty know about jumping?_ he thinks irritably. His stance is admittedly little relaxed, but considering how Hinata just let Kagami pass him, he's not particularly concerned.

And that's where he goes wrong.

Suddenly, Hinata is just _gone_ , his hair a blur of orange on the edge of his vision, eerily similar to how Kuroko disappears when people don't keep a close enough eye on him. Kagami whips around, just in time to see Hinata _fly_. The ball slams through the hoop, lands on the ground with a resounding slap. Kagami watches it fall with wide eyes.

 _What the hell was that?_ His teammates echo the sentiment. However, one comment sticks out above the others.

"It's nice to see that you haven't lost your touch, Hinata-kun," Kuroko says with the barest hint of a smile. Hinata just rubs the back of his head with a bashful grin. Marching up to the two of them, Kagami tugs on the back of Hinata's shirt, jerking the orange-haired chibi back a few steps.

"What did you do?"

"Huh? I jumped and I dunked the ball." Hinata actually looks confused as to why they're so dumbfounded by his dunk. "I jumped like _fwoom_."

Kagami can feel a vein ticking in his forehead and grits his teeth. "Yeah, but what does a _fwoom_ jump _mean_?"

Hinata gives him a strange look like _he's_ the weird one. "A _fwoom_ jump is a _fwoom_ jump. What don't you get about it?" _EVERYTHING_ , Kagami shouts mentally.

"Perhaps it would be better if you showed him again, Hinata-kun." _Thank god for Kuroko._

Hinata continues to look puzzled, but he nods anyway. "Pay attention this time, okay?" Kagami tenuously resists the urge to do violent things.

The orange-haired teen trots back to the mid-court line. He dribbles the ball nonchalantly a few more times before pulling the same disappearing act from before. Once again, the ball sinks through the net, and Hinata looks at Kagami expectantly after returning to the ground again.

"I think I see how he does it," the coach pipes up, having walked over to where the rest of the team is gathered. "Just before he jumps, the shift in his center of gravity is different from yours, Kagami-kun. That difference changes whether your energy is going into height-like how Hinata-kun jumps-or distance-like how you're jumping now." Everyone turns to look at Hinata for confirmation, but the chibi just looks extremely confused.

"Uh, I just jumping _fwoom_ jumps… I dunno what you mean by shifting my shifting my center of gravy, or whatever."

"Center of _gravity_ , Hinata-kun," Kuroko corrects gently.

"Yeah, that."

Catching sight of Kagami's confusedly irritated face, Riko adds, "When you're doing something like your Meteor Jam, you should lean forward, like you're about to start running. With stuff like mid-air battles, you should go for straighter posture. Hinata-kun's pointing out that you could add more length or height to your jump by changing how you're jumping."

Kagami makes a face at the thought of having to actively think about how he should jump, but given that both Kuroko and Riko (and Hinata) seem to agree with this, he decides that he should give it a try.

Just as he's about to start running towards the hoop, however, a loud shout catches his attention.

"Hinata!" A black-haired teen around their age comes jogging up, a thunderous expression on his face. "We've been looking for you! Why aren't you answering your phone?"

"It's in my jacket pocket," Hinata answers breezily, motioning towards where it's crumpled in a ball on the edge of the court.

"Dumbass. The team dinner starts soon," the other guy replies as he storms over to where Hinata's jacket is and snatches it up. "Why do _I_ always have to be regulated to 'Find Hinata' duty whenever you're off to find one of your crazy middle school friends, huh?" The black-haired teen descends into incoherent angry mutters and Kagami feels like he can almost _feel_ the negative energy radiating from the teen. He sneaks a glance at Hinata, but the other teen is still smiling brightly as if nothing happened, so he feels cautiously optimistic. _Maybe at least_ one _of Kuroko's friends isn't straight up off his rocker._

"Well, I have to go, Kuroko," Hinata says with a pout. "Maybe I'll see you around!" He walks backwards as he follows the black-haired kid, waving until they're out of sight.

At the sound of Riko calling their team back together to begin the next quarter, Kagami hums consideringly. Bam _and_ fwoom _jumps, huh? Let's see what I can do..._

* * *

 _A/N:_ _I'm still not hugely satisfied with this chapter, but I didn't want to keep you guys waiting any longer. Sorry to those of you who were hoping for a Hinata that looks up to Kagami. It made more sense to me in the context of this universe that Hinata would act this way, especially since he spent a couple years around basketball prodigies. Kagami would seem like the norm, not the exception. Also, I didn't add as much Kuroko as I would have liked (I might add more of a dedicated chapter later, and make this Kagami's chapter, but I'm not sure yet), but to be honest, I would say that Kuroko and Hinata bonded over Aomine, and probably didn't hang out as much together outside of being with him. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're still pretty good friends, but I imagine that Hinata keeps in touch with Kuroko via text or email or something, and thus doesn't really need to catch up irl? Who knows._


	6. Dark Blue

_A/N: Lol when I reached the 580 word mark I literally had no idea how I was planning on continuing this. You guys don't know this, but my personal challenge for each fic i write is to make it at least 1k words, since that's like weirdly hard and yet not hard for me, and this chapter was like pulling teeth.I was so glad when it wrote itself to a close, lol. Sorry about the weird style change, btw guys, i just felt like some humor and also Kageyama's head is a weird place. Also, I literally typed 'seta' instead of 'setter' once._

* * *

Kageyama fidgets awkwardly as he leans against the vending machine across from the men's bathroom. Hinata had said that he needed to go to the bathroom one last time before the final match against Seijoh, and for some reason, the orange-haired idiot had vehemently insisted that Kageyama accompany him on the account of "horrible things that happen when I'm in the bathroom, dumbass!", which was ridiculous, but no more ridiculous than the fact that Kageyama had said _okay_.

Just as he's starting to get unbearably uncomfortable because it feels like he's been standing there for at least fifteen minutes (it's probably only been less than three, but Kageyama firmly refuses to admit that to himself), he's jostled roughly as someone tries to get to the vending machine.

"Oi, watch it!" he snaps on automatic, before looking _up_ (not by a lot, thankfully) at who it is instead of continuing to stare at the guy's nose. The guy's height unfortunately reminds him of a certain douche-y, blonde, nearsighted person he knows.

The guy just growls irritably at him, which would actually sound threatening if not for the fact that Kageyama just _can't_ take him seriously on account of his unusually tan skin and dark _blue_ hair. What kind of fashion choice is that?

"Ganguro," he says around a snicker.

"Huh?!" The ganguro is looking increasingly ticked off now, like he's one insult away from punching Kageyama in the face. He grabs him by the collar. "Say that again," he hisses, free hand clenched into a fist. Thankfully, Kageyama's saved from his almost certain impending doom via an exasperatingly familiar voice.

"Nothing bad happened this time, Kage…" Hinata's weirdly excited voice (what kind of person gets excited about not being accosted in a bathroom?) trails off, replaced by confusion and a hint of anger. "Daiki, what are you doing?"

The ganguro pushes him away with a huff. "Who's this guy, Shouyou?" The guy gestures at him roughly with a scowl. Kageyama would take offense, but his brain has ground to a halt with the use of Hinata's first name.

"He's my setter!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He sets my balls!"

"What?!" Kageyama's not sure why the strange blue-haired guy looks so shocked or horrified, but it can't be anything good, so he just decides to sneer at the other for good measure. He's pretty sure the ganguro doesn't notice.

"Yeah! He tosses to me so I can spike." Hinata pantomimes hitting a ball and for whatever reason, the delinquent-person-who-Hinata-somehow-knows relaxes.

"Oh, okay then." The three of them descend into hellishly awkward silence. Kageyama spends this time glancing between Hinata and the delinquent, who are trapped in what seems to be a staring match that involves a lot of eyebrow movement.

"Daiki, what are you doing here?" Hinata says finally, edging closer to Kageyama. He refuses to admit that he feels vindictive pride in how the blue-haired guy's expression edges even closer to 'I just sucked on a lemon' with the movement.

The ganguro fidgets, which looks incredibly disconcerting on a guy of his stature, and incoherently mumbles something to the ground.

"What?"

"I came to apologize. And wish you good luck." The awkward silence returns when the blue-haired guy doesn't say anything more. Kageyama idly wonders if they'll be late for the team meeting. The last pep talk probably started at least five minutes ago. _Maybe they'll Tanaka to come find us again_. He almost physically shakes off that last thought. _Please let them never meet._

"...wow, Momoi-chan really is your translator when it comes to feelings," Hinata says eventually, letting out a snicker of laughter.

The ganguro's expression jumps from 'sucking on a lemon' to 'I am the fucking apocalypse'. "Hah?! What was that?!"

Kageyama doesn't really want to admit it, but the guy's facial expression is actually kind of scary. Hinata, the idiot, just continues to laugh. "How is anyone supposed to understand you if Momoi-chan's not around? This must be why she had to follow you all the way to Toutou, huh?"

" _I_ don't even know why she followed me to Touou," the blue-haired guy snarls, "and if we're on the subject of people going to schools they're not supposed to, what's up with you and Tetsu?"

Kageyama still has no idea what's going on, but Karasuno's been brought up, no matter how roundabout, so he interjects. "Oi, lay off, ganguro!"

To his surprise, Hinata bursts out laughing again. "People still call you a ganguro!"

"Shut up," the guy grumbles. Kageyama thinks that it might be a flush that he spots on his cheeks, but it's also possible he's just becoming delusional from being exposed to the sheer amount of crazy in this conversation. "Stop calling me a ganguro. I have a name. Use it."

Kageyama wouldn't actually object, even to the ridiculous way the ganguro says it, but there's one problem: "I don't know your name, dumbass. You just randomly shoved me while I was standing on the side of the hallway."

"You were blocking the vending machine!"

"No I wasn't!"

"Yes, you were!"

"Let's just say you're both wrong, okay?" Hinata pipes up. "Kageyama, this is Daiki-Aomine Daiki. Daiki, this is my setter, Kageyama."

The ganguro-Aomine-mumbles incomprehensibly in reply. It might be a greeting, but at this point, Kageyama decides not to take any chances and proceeds to ignore him.

"Oi, we should get going to the team meetings, dumbass. We're already late," he reminds Hinata. From the way his teammate starts jumping up and down like he really needs to go to the bathroom again, he had completely forgotten.

"AHHH, how could I forget?!"Hinata's already grabbed Kageyama's hand to start sprinting back to the assigned meeting room when Aomine stops them.

"Oi, Shouyou," the blue-haired teen barks out tersely. Hinata looks back, an expectant if not hesitant look on his face. His hand is still holding Kageyama's. He wonders if Hinata forgot about it. "...good luck."

"Thanks!" Hinata smiles sunnily and then pauses, clearly thinking about whether or not he wants to say something back. It's an odd move for the rash volleyball nut that Kageyama knows. "...it's nice to see that you've changed, Daiki. Kuroko's been good for all of you."

Then without explaining _anything_ , Hinata drags Kageyama in the direction of the meeting room.

* * *

A/N: IT'S OVER, finally, it's been sitting in my computer for forever. God this chapter was hard to write for literally no reason whatsoever. I have the last "official" sequel planned, in the vaguest sense of the word, and I actually have two (two! sort of) "interludes" planned, so I don't plan on leaving this series behind just yet. :P btw would you guys prefer the interludes as part of this fic or as their own separate fic? lmk.


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